First drafts, learning by experience & writing to keep up

I fear I have confused the word birds. Having cwtched down for the past however many months, the ones making up the first draft of my next story have had time to bed in – feel secure and imagine their contributions safe from any mucking about on my part. Yesterday they were rudely awakened. Having opened the document, sadly (for the word birds) inevitably for me, mucking about is what I must now do.

The story was written before book two (which I have recently completed), when I still had a good deal to learn. I’ve known for a while now that a major aspect of it would have to go, that the entire thing is in need of paring down and simplifying. The reason I know is because of the process I’ve recently been through with book two. The structural edits and the rewrite were done far more quickly than I expected, largely because I’m getting better at it. Once I knew what I needed to do, the doing of it came relatively easily.

This next story is a departure – I’m writing an older central character for one thing. Still meddling in the magic but trying my hand at a more immediate story, something rooted in the present and only vaguely referencing the past. It isn’t easy for me. I adore backstory. I love writing it – I like the way the past informs the present and I’m rarely put off by books that make a feature of backstory. I do know there’s a trick to writing it. It’s something I’m absolutely learning and it’s a revelation.

Damn, I love this writing lark – I have a head full of stories, each one more easily conjured than its predecessor. There’s no help for it – I have to keep at it, keep up and live to be a hundred.

Thank you, Jan. I think lots of writers do – readers too. The trick is learning how to present backstory. I’m literally tearing up great chunks of the script! (You will understand – a lot of it is diary entries…) I would cry if I wasn’t so sure it will make the thing better. xXx